SkyTrain Evergreen Line tunnel boring machine named &#039;Alice&#039;

DH Vancouver StaffMar 07, 2014 11:43 am

Today Premier Christy Clark was joined by the Honourable James Moore, Minister Responsible for British Columbia and Member of Parliament for Port Moody-Westwood-Port Coquitlam, B.C.’s Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Todd Stone, and TransLink board chair Marcella Szel in announcing the start of Evergreen Line tunnel construction and officially naming the tunnel boring machine.

The machine has been named “Alice”, after Alice Wilson, Canada’s first female geologist. It is tradition in the tunnel boring industry to name machines.

“Our Government is pleased to invest in this project that will create jobs and boost the regional economy,” said Minister Moore. “The Evergreen Line will not only provide Metro Vancouver residents with an expanded, efficient and environmentally sustainable transit system, it will connect communities and improve the quality of life for all residents of the region.”

“With today’s christening we can start to create the longest rapid transit system in Canada,” said Premier Clark. “We promised to open the line by summer 2016, create 8,000 jobs, and give families and communities the transportation choices they need – and we’re delivering.”

The Evergreen Line two-kilometre tunnel will run east of Barnet Highway in Port Moody to south of Kemsley Avenue in Coquitlam. The machine will drill a single tunnel in one direction, instead of two, allowing for a shorter construction schedule. Bored tunnel construction means there is no disruption to the surface above except at the tunnel entry and exit points.

“Metro Vancouver has a world-class transportation network,” said Stone. “The Evergreen Line is the largest transit project underway in Metro Vancouver today, and it will help meet the demands of a growing population bringing rapid transit for the first time to the communities of Port Moody and Coquitlam. Once the Evergreen Line is complete, B.C. will have the longest rapid transit network in Canada at 79 km in length.”

“This next stage of construction brings us one step closer to the opening of the Evergreen Line SkyTrain extension,” said Szel. “This new service will be a fast and convenient way for people in the Tri-Cities to seamlessly connect to the Metro Vancouver transit network.”

EGRT Construction is building the elevated and at-grade guideways, the two-kilometre bored tunnel, seven stations, power substations, train-operating systems and parking facilities, as well as a vehicle-storage and light-maintenance facility.

The Evergreen Line will link Burnaby, Port Moody and Coquitlam and will be fully integrated into the existing system, connecting directly onto the Millennium Line at Lougheed Town Centre Station. It will carry 70,000 passengers and remove 40,000 cars from the road every day by 2021.

Funding for the Evergreen Line is a partnership between the Government of Canada, the Government of British Columbia and TransLink, costing $1.43 billion. The Government of Canada is contributing up to $424 million ($350 million from the Building Canada Fund, $67 million from the Public Transit Capital Trust Fund, and $7 million from the P3 Fund), the Government of B.C. is contributing $586 million, and other partners are contributing $21 million. TransLink is contributing the remaining $400 million and will operate the system when it opens.

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DH Vancouver Staff

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